Education - A thought...

Education - An act of making a nation better; an attempt to build a nation for the future; a sincere and honest effort to achieve the vision of a nation!

As any other turf, even education in India has evolved over the years. From Gurukuls to foreign-influenced methodologies to the modern day education system - India has seen it all. The kids getting associated with the whole system have grown to be smarter as ever. The whole education system, policies, investment & traction around it has evolved to add more value to the people associated with it and has matured to be result oriented. The increased concentration on the rural part of India which is close to 70% of the nation has helped the nation grow in a holistic manner.

Even though there has been a tremendous improvement in the thought process and the efforts involved in building the system, even today there are a lot of gaps in the system which is hampering the speed at which these changes are being implemented. This article aims at communicating honest plans which can be practically implemented rather than saying the same old politically correct statements. Please note that the political angle is not covered in the article. It is a pure set of ideas which needs to be imbibed in the system.

The basic problems which the current education system is facing can be categorized as below:

• Moral values diminishing as an output from the system
• With the intake to the system being smarter every year, there is a lack of smarter people who can guide the young blood
• Even though there is a proper reach to the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP - Villages) of the nation, the constraints of the kid having to prove his knowledge via ‘marks’ is disorienting the kids from the practicality of ‘having to exist’ in this world
• Education institutions are becoming money making organizations rather than concentrating on implementing ideas which will strike a balance become making money and spreading the right knowledge among the right set of people

Among the many other problems which exist in making the system succeed in its ultimate goal of making India a better place to live, the ones above are highlighted as these parameters contribute most to the vision of the system.

Moral values:

With the emergence of the modern day education, the importance to result orientation has increased. It sure is a very good thing to be implemented as the people who execute it on the ground will be driven to succeed in the goal. But, the implication of this is that the children are losing their moral values. There are more reports of social disruption by children these days. The basic ingredient of development of the mind of a child to live, to respect, to have common sense, patience etc is being missed in the rat race of achieving the results.

The moral values should be imbibed in a progressive manner. The first step is for the teacher to gain respect from kids. The way he presents himself, the way he talks, handles queries, situations and even the way he dresses have an impact on the image on the teacher on the kids. This should be set right at the first place. Kids should be involved in activities which will uplift the society & it’s thought process apart from the regular curriculum. They need to be made to experience the reality on the ground rather than showcasing the rosy A/C classrooms. The ancient stories of the mythological heroes are told to the kids but they don’t make sense in the minds of these innocents. The implications, morals and adaption need to be emphasized instead of it being told just as another story!

Get Smarter:

Knowledge is the basic reason why the kids these days do not respect the teachers when compared to the earlier days. With the introduction of internet in the ecosystem, the accessibility of information is no more a problem. Every kid knows what is happening around and has access to all the latest happenings around. The teacher needs to be more updated than a kid. Let me give you a simple example - A kid reads n update about a satellite launch. If the teacher just tells about the information or even skips that information, he is not doing any good in gaining trust & respect from the student community. He has to add value to that information. He needs to explain the reason behind the launch, the complexities involved, the science involved and all the other angles. This information is not readily available for a 10 year old kid.

The teacher should get acquainted with the latest trends and technologies in the market which can make a difference to the life of a student. There may be a counter argument for this that there will be an immense amount of support required from the management to do this and they do not have funds for this year etc. They will need to be pushed via the policies & policing of the government.

Does ‘marks’ really matter?

This is a classic problem of the education system which each one of us has faced and probably the most debated topic as well. We don’t get a good score and hence parent pressure, peer pressure, unhealthy habits and what not! Is the score of a kid a representation of his knowledge? Does it really matter? We thought about all these and came up with a grade based system for evaluation. But how is it working on the ground?

The basic problem here is the drive to learn. As teachers, the basic responsibility / target should be to inculcate the habit of learning in students and not aim at better score / grade. This is the basic flaw in the system. Does it mean that the teachers shouldn’t be result oriented? - Definitely not! They need to be - but just that the expectations need to be re-looked at. If the habit of learning is there, marks & grades really doesn’t matter for the kid to grow in the industry sector later during his career.

How do we inculcate this habit? It isn’t magic right? The approach must be more of activity based teaching rather than it being theoretical & amidst the four walls called ‘classroom’. Their creativity needs to be appreciated and encouraged; there should be no caps to the thoughts. Teachers should accept & appreciate & encourage these thoughts. A few thoughts which have a real value associated can be looked at being funded in a big way - look at negotiating with the education department or raising funds for it and implement it as a project. This will give the student a whole new outlook and perspective.

Money matters…

At the end of the day, institutes can’t run on ideals. Let us get practical! A management requires fund. All the above said activities come at a cost. So, the biggest question here is - can a middle man afford it? Probably not… In which case, not all the kids are provided with an equal level of education. There are a couple of ways in which this can be implemented:

• The government can provide subsidies to the various schools who cannot afford it. As we have the definition of a BoP to issue a ration card, we can have a definition for a middle-man who can avail this subsidy in educating his children.
• Policies by the government to make a common level of schooling till class 5. Every kid need to undergo a class apart from the normal schooling. Have a common area in a locality which can act as an arena for schools around to come together and learn. This common area need to be facilitated with the models much needed for experimenting.
• Government can look at appointing education consultants to visit all the schools. The job of these guys is to induce the fire of innovation in the kids & provide them a platform to perform.

These are a few steps which need to be made a part of the expectations from any school which registers for approval. The concerned policies need to be amended & well thought policies need to be introduced. The teachers should be motivated to deliver better. Orientation workshops, quarterly review, audits & revisions need to be made an essential part of the routine activities. The bottom line is, this can be achieved only through a collaborative effort of the society, educationists and the government. It is definitely not right to just blame the government because it can’t speak out. The society should realize that education is not a status symbol! The educationists should realize that they are the catalysts at the grass route level...

Sipping away life…

It has been so bloody long... I think we should catch-up guys! A usual conversation between buddies who have missed each other… The first thought of a place which comes to the mind is a CCD, Cuppa, Caffé Pascucci where people can hang out for however long they want to. ‘A lot can happen over a coffee’ & ‘Life, refreshed’ has become a very commonly discussed taglines these days…

Since the introduction of Café Coffee Day (CCD), the definition of hang-outs has changed. The business model of a coffee outlet has been well discussed & exploited these days. Bangalore never thought of paying 50 odd bucks for a simple cup of coffee which otherwise would cost less a tenth of the amount. But with the introduction of CCD, a whole new era of conversations were triggered. The Mango man who initially perceived the outlets to be for the rich and the show-offs started sneaking into the habitat of the polished brews and here you go - a large bunch of customer base was developed in a jiffy!

With the rich response, there of course will be motivation for the players to go an extra mile and innovate. The result was something really nice which the city lacked. A whole new set of flavors; newer players; Indianised customer focus and what not! The most important thing is that the competition did not get into a price war - though it looked like at the beginning of the introduction of the competitors. But with the onset of exclusiveness and brand association, the individual players did gain the market share which they deserved. The market now is all the more matured and ever innovative! Perhaps the only player who lost out in this was Barista who was not able to cope up with the market pressures. Customer retention became a huge problem for him as CCD just grew bigger and better each day!

Apart from the generic business model of a coffee shop, some chairs & tables and something to munch, there are a few more which specialize in a beverage. ‘My Tea House’ in the southern part of Bangalore is one such place which is exclusive for tea. Likewise is ‘Infinitea’ around Central Bangalore. There also exist the older ones - ‘Coffee House’ is a classic around the central part… A few of them have emerged out of the concept of being a typical hang-out spot. There is this Cuppa around southern Bangalore which has an open air projector where corporate can hang-out and convert boring presentations to lively hang-outs! For innovations and ideas, sky isn’t the limit!!

Well, this write up isn’t about the business models around the coffee shop market of Namma BengaLuru. But its more to do with the emergence of the whole new era. A new world which is chilled out filled with energy, enthusiasm, hospitality & freshness - just by associating itself with the basic beverage - Coffee & some tea!

Here I sit in one such open air coffee house around JP Nagar (south Bangalore) wondering what really has attached me to these coffee shops over the years. No, it surely isn’t the brand; it isn’t the coffee / tea I get here as I found a similar association with the coffee shops around the European region as well. Then what else is it? - The noise, people around, chilled-out environment, freedom, freshness … ???

These coffee shops have been a place where my mind thinks and inks. Amidst all the noise around; movement of people, honking of the traffic, activities on the large wide screen idiot box - I still can sit and think. Imagine, get crazy with ideas. The whole setup makes me get out of the normal way of thinking and lets me be imaginative. I don’t go to put forth the classic question - ‘Why?’ I just do it (Guess Nike can’t sue me here… :))… At times bump on to known faces; converse with unknown faces; wonder staring at strange faces; Observe different expressions; Predict actions; More importantly smile! :). Guess that’s what it really boils down to… It just lets me be myself and gives me the freedom to express it in the way I want without any expectations… Sounds familiar isn’t it (Especially if have been in a relationship with a lady ever in your life :D).

Conversations

Coffees are the best way to start a conversation around. The aroma, the refreshing feelings are things which are common among people who come over. The conversations usually take the route of the ‘horrible Bangalore traffic’, ‘political mismanagement’ blah blah… But also brings in a whole new perspective to the entire jazz around these and minds start talking. At times you find a connect with people whom you converse with. Once on my way to the Eastern Europe, bumped on to an old fellow who had travelled around the world working in various places across the globe (sounds like a really cool job to me!!). The visit was rather unplanned - this conversation helped me plan it all (though I almost missed my flight because of the conversation :)) … never could I have imagined such a stuff! Conversations in Koshy’s led me to meet a really interesting person - Ravi Lobo who is into making documentary movies… In that phase of life where I was really into knowing about the existence of communities like Aghoras, it was something which gave me goose bumps!

The Art of Guessing

My favorite pass time is to look at people who are sitting distant apart within their groups and guess what will be their next action! Well, I aint eve teasing or intruding here. It is just a fun element when you are sitting along in a coffee shop trying to kill sometime. Instead of getting bored, it always is a better option to do this :). The conversations build in your mind, you figure out that you are an innovative person, you can draw inferences on the actions, you can build stories, you can imagine and sky is the limit here! Trust me, if not for anything, I bet you will have a smile on your face after this (like the one you have now! :))

The blankness

At times the mind just doesn’t want to think. Fair enough! It after all needs some rest as well… Open air hang-outs are the best place to be! Stare at the stars on a clear night; enjoy the loud music; observe people and their actions and more importantly fill your tummy with something light and refreshing!

Well well, the story never ends... Where else do you find such variety which will not go over-bound with what fills into your pocket? They say that change is inevitable. Trend is something which has to change to give a respite to the otherwise monochrome outlook. This change has of course added more spice in my life. The moment I get bored of the menu at a place, I find it getting changed... What more do you need :). I sit here sipping away with a mastermind called Life... in the way it matters! A business model which has changed the outlook of life and the experience around existence...

Hush, Hush - Do you know?

What happened mate? How did it happen? Oh, is that so... Why do you think it happened? Don't you think the reason might have been something else? Anyway, how will it affect me now? Will I loose my job? Will I need to undergo a situation where I will need to counter downsizing? What wrong did I do? Why am I facing such a situation? ... Thoughts thoughts and more thoughts! Irrelevant, irrational, random - but valid!

Dealing with situations of rumor is very tricky. More so, for large organisations. The butterfly effect has a huge impact in the flow of information across the various ears in the organisation. The whole of last night my thoughts were wandering around the ways to handle such situations. It boiled down to - Is being frank and open about the situation an answer to this? Does it give the right message to the individuals without maturity? Will they not start assuming more and eventually take hasty decisions?

Being frank about the situation definitely helps. Just that there needs to be a measurement of frankness. At the business level there may be a lot of decisions which need not be made visible to the team members as it will definitely not make a difference to them. But I feel that the reason behind the decision affecting the people should be associated in our communication of decision to the people across various levels to ensure that the right information is spread to them and they are not bogged down by unnecessary stress. Give them the bigger picture of what things are and ask questions to them which will invoke thoughts in their mind - given a similar situation how would they have handled it if they owned the organisation... things of that sort...

Things do not end here. At the end of the day they will still have the basic question of job security in their minds. It is always better that you as a manager tell out the questions which they may have thought of upfront rather than they coming out with such questions. This always increases the confidence level of the employees as you would showcase the thought process you have in mind and that it is positive and there is a ray of hope. Now the real big question - What if the news if really bad? Do I tell the people directly or do I need to beat around the bush? Another tricky situation - Given an opportunity to do it - I wouldn't beat around the bush giving a false hope. Tell them directly in a way they can accept it - motivate them by giving the perception of it not being the end of the world. Well, it really is not the end of the world folks! We have new challenges and new mornings everyday ...

All you are helping by doing this is - avoiding unnecessary rumors. Lets be frank - will the news not spread from one ear to the other? It is a general human tendency to tell things which are not supposed to be told. No, the industry isn't so matured yet! We have immaturity from the top layer to the bottom most layer... That is the sad state of IT these days...

So, delivering the bad news - be straight forward, practical, give confidence and hope if you have; if you don't have hope, be straight forward again. It seriously doesn't hurt any individual if it is told in the way it has to be told. It is all about understanding the pulse of the group and responding to it...

Have fun while you do it...

It was an odd day today. Missed attending a close friend's wedding - thanks to the insane weather at Rajastan around this time of the year. Decided to attend TEDx Bangalore instead... Disappointed again as it turned out to be a live streaming of a global event.

Anyway this led me to have a session of jogging after quite sometime. A relaxation in the park after the jog and I sat down observing the kids playing nearby. Kids have always been an interesting mode of observation for me. The amount of need, urge, innocence, inquisitiveness and the resultant joy is immense... There was an old fellow teaching his grandson to count from 1-10 in various languages while he was playing on a swing. Every time the count reached 10, the kid used to be filled with joy and look forward for the next series. This made me think... Can we ever create such an environment at work / academia? Can we have so much passion and fun associated with learning that pride is associated with it?

In the due course of 'growing up', humans usually learn a lot of Dos and Don'ts associated with every activity they perform. These rules of Dos and Don'ts however is associated with the kind of environment they grow up in; the kind of situations they encounter in life. The amount of influence each event in life has on a person's mind generally decides who he turns out as. So, is it just innocence that makes the community of kids enjoy whatever they do? Probably not... It is a combination of many things...

If you think about it and consider all the parameters that influence this thought process, the whole question of passion and fun getting associated revolves around the attitude of an individual. As a person who will groom people, should the maximum time be spent on getting the right attitude in the individual? How does a change in attitude affect the association of a person with his work? Before we do that, is it all that easy to change the attitude of a 'grown-up'? :)

The answers to these questions differs from person to person based on the level of experience, exposure and maturity. For now, from my perspective all I would say is - Yes! A change in attitude can be brought. It takes time, requires effort to customize it, requires a lot of patience and needs to under-go an act of 'getting screwed at the grass root level' ...

Anyway... getting back - Can we create such an environment at work? I think we sure can... All it requires is energy, creativity, right attitude, inquisitiveness, maturity and an open mind. Well, deadly and a rare combination for sure... But where can we find such a combination at all levels of a growing economy? Its humanely not practical. All we require is a top layer which ooze out this combination. Style of leadership differs for sure... but however it is, all we require is a proper mechanism of grooming around the behavioral parameters which should help this to be percolated till the ground level... This will mean that as an organization, there will be attrition, weeding exercises etc... To counter this a proper recruitment team who have the same intent should help build the organization. So basically, a holistic approach towards building an organization from all the associated support functions and we should be there ... Difficult; but achievable.

Client Server

The idea bulb switches on in weird places at times... Today was one such day! 7:50AM when I was taking bath and out of nowhere this concept of client-server architecture sat in my mind. Nothing technical... but just the term came in and I started thinking; correlating the concepts of management and technology (of course was taking bath in parallel :D ...)

In a classical Client–server model, the client is the requestor and the server is the service provider. The same thing applies to a typical service design model. The clients are the ones with requirements and the servers act as knowledge / analytics base and service the request.

At the management level, there are innumerable number of parameters which contribute to design thinking. In the due course of dealing with all these parameters one gets lost in the thought that the client is the boss (more widely used as 'Customer is the King'). Really? What if the server (service provider) goes down? Will it not disrupt the client? :) ... But this isn't the way it works in the technology front. You have counter strategies which are much easy to deal with and feasible to work out. This lead to conceptualising this (w)hole thought into a new addition to the list of oxymorons. The first thought which came into my mind was whether these concepts qualify to be a pair of oxymoron. Yes, a pair of it - Client-Server wrapped under Technology and Management concepts. So mathematically speaking a second degree oxymoron...

The Bangalore traffic then let me have a different perception though :). Is it really the case?? Are there any similarities (a 180 deg phase shift... :P) between the conepts in technology and management? Hmm... In a technical arena, what happens when a server goes down? A reboot? Replacement? Revamp? ... many ways to counter it... So basically, a backup strategy is planned. What happens in a management arena? What if a service provider brings the shutters down? Will it be an end to the client operations? Not really, a service doesn't shut down over night. There will be a phase of transition and handover where the incumbent is paid to work. It may be no loss no gain scenario for the incumbent but this means that a backup strategy exists. Of course there are other parameters of legal, ethical & blah associated to make the situation more complex...

So what have I arrived at as I walk in to office in the morning?? A confused state of mind? A don't care attitude for the day? A 'What the hell!' feeling? ... Well... a happy state that I atleast was able to continue the thought that originated early in the morning and have a logical conclusion. They aren't oxymorons after all. They are similar concepts dealt under different situations at different levels of complexity...

Randomness is good...

'Randomness is fun dad! It makes you deal with situations as and how they come... You don't need to actually plan stuff but at the same time you gotta make sure that things work in the right way when they come up. The positive side of this is that the person dealing with it is avoiding himself from unnecessary worries of a "PLAN" not working and the risks being mitigated!'

Well, I know ... a heavy conversation between a dad and his son... But this was the way my day ended! A lovely laughter after that and my dad was all in the mood to switch the idiot box ON for the series of his daily soap operas... I came back to my mode of dreaming... Is it really true that randomness creates a situation where you don't need to plan? Doesn't it create more and more chaos? Doesn't it create imbalance, anxiety and thus higher blood pressure? :)

If I think of it now, I can link it to the concept of creative chaos which I am right now concentrating on ... How can we build something around randomness to reduce the chaos? Do we ever need to reduce the chaos BTW? What is the problem with having such a chaotic environment? Is it not condusive for problem resolution? Is it not fostering creativity any more? Is it something which leads to an increased level of confusion? ...

Randomness comes with a beautiful gift of expectation of increased level of smartness from a person dealing with it. Yes, it is a blessing in disguise! I have been observing this at work and trying to implement it as much as I can... Do not actually plan things considering all the factors in place... Let a few factors come and influence your plan as and when they appear. This fills the concept of a plan with excitement... An unexpected behavior adds on the much required (rather pretty much missed these days...) surprise element in the implementation of a plan. If these externals factors stop influencing, the involvement of people will start reducing as they will not be motivated enough to just become 'implementors'. They will not learn the hard way... They will not be groomed enough to take up the task of planning when it is really required for them to scale up... So, Randomness is good! :)

The Travel experience

More than an year back, my urge to travel beyond India increased and to my luck, was able to put myslef into a job in the UK which meant an entry into another culturally diverse continent - Europe!! After a good 7 trips old, here I am summarizing the diverty of thoughts I went through during my 6 odd months of travel alone (not a continuos one though...)

The first step towards a travel is the urge to travel. Even though the inquisitiveness of a homo sapien is natural when it comes to travel, for a few it may not be so very obvious. I discovered myself to be somewhere in between these categories of people. Though it was an immense urge to explore while travelling around the UK, I went through a phase of draught where I just wanted to stay back at home; do nothing; stare at immobile objects and stay blank... Sounds a little depressing but yeah! There you are - facts are facts! This lead me to take a break in between my travels to UK and the Schengen nations... A good break of a couple of months in between and I was on the roads again. A draught followed a series of trips again... That is when I realised the importance of chilling out while travelling. It helps you not only to take a break but also to appreciate the rich cultural diversity around! The more time you have to wonder, the more will you discover! - Yes, it is true while travelling!!

'Every travel needs to have a plan in place'! Nah...! The best travels I have had are the ones which are not planned! All I knew is the place I was travelling to and at times the place where I was staying. Having spent many nights at the airports and railway stations made me realise the fun of doing so. The endless conversations you get into with strangers while at airports, hostels and railway stations are always cherishing. A few end up being real good friends and a few remain strangers... Dealing with these uncertain situations makes you realise the importance of randomness in life and the amount of happiness it provides. Of course, no doubt that the planned trips also are filled with people whom you will cherish for a long time as long as you will cherish the place itself. But there is un imaginable fun in the way randomness can fill your happiness. The way you get lost in an unknown city, unknown language with strange people around; not knowing whether to trust them or not is fun by itself for sure!

Food and drinks can never be disassociated with you as an individual if you are travelling or not! But with a travel, the miscellany of the same increases. There is an interesting observation which I went through during my travels. The flavours in the food and drinks of a region has a direct correlation with the mood of the people in that particular region! The paelladors of spain does reflect the loudness amongst the Spaniards; the kick you get in a small sip of an authentic french wine does reflect rh passion of the French; the rawness of a mixture of Brandy and Caffiene reflects the aura of love prevailing in Praha; The coffee on the marbles reflects the exuberance of the Austrians! It is a similar trend across the globe. Having lived in India for over 25 years, this definitely reflects the trend out there.

Regional diversity and change in culture will definitely not affect the basic thought process of a human being. Having lived with strangers, moved along with them for quite a while, one fact is very clear in my mind. Be good to people and they will be good to you! No matter who they are... Where they come from...